Wireless Revolution Spawns “Generation Laptop”

In May of 2005 U.S. hardware history was made. This was the first time that laptops sold more than desktop computers in a single month. Indeed, Current Analysis, an innovative research firm headquartered in Sterling, Virginia, confirmed that laptop sales leapt to 53.3 percent of the total PC retail market in May 2005.

Were these figures just a blip on the the computer sales radar? Your own eyes can answer that question for you - folks with laptops are everywhere. Students learning interactively in the classroom, business men and women compiling data reports on planes and trains, and casual surfers reading emails in coffee shops. So, what current factors contribute to the massive popularity of laptops with the computer buying public?

AFFORDABILITY

Five years ago, a person would walk into a computer store with four thousand dollars, and emerge bow legged, carrying a bulky notebook computer the size of a sewing machine - about as cutting edge as grandpa’s pipe and smoking jacket. Today advanced mobile tech is affordable. Indeed, a Compaq NX6125 from HP, equipped with a biometric fingerprint reader, 60GB hard drive, and an AMD 64 bit Turion processor costs less than $1000.

Expect prices for laptops to get even lower in the coming months thanks to intense competition between the two heavyweight processor manufacturers, Intel and AMD. Both companies have introduced mobile chips with speeds that offer desktop performance.Laptops in the classroom could even go as low as 100 dollars a unit, if Nicholas Negroponte has his way. The MIT Media Lab professor is working on an innovative concept to distribute wireless laptops to some the world’s poorest children.

 

CONNECTIVITY

Laptops with Wi-Fi are no longer an optional luxury. At Mammoth Coffee in Newport, Ohio, more and more business owners are jostling for notebook “office space,” to the modest tune of a blueberry muffin, and a Cafe Au Lait.Those who dine at fine restaurants at the very least expect a sensory, savory meal, set upon a table with fine silver and white table cloths; superior service; and ambient lighting. Well that’s exactly what’s on the menu at Trapeze restaurant in Burlingame, California,- along with wireless access service for laptops.

Wireless fidelity has moved effortlessly from the boundaries of home and office to the pristine elegance of posh restaurants. But, will the Wi-Fi laptop revolution end here?Last Mile Communications have even greater ambitions for Wi-Fi notebooks. They hope to use the established infrastructure of the many lamp-posts dotting around merry old England to produce a network of wireless access points.This ambitious UK company would like convert the street lights, so they can be accessed via a laptop to connect to the internet. Last mile would also like to put flash memory in the lights so even without accessing the web, information about local amenities, and emergency fire, police and ambulance services would be accessible.

 

PORTABILITY

Laptops with performance rivalling that of desktop computers used to be knee breakers - Not any more. A stream of high quality ultralights and ultraportables have flooded onto the market in the last few months.

Acer’s Red dot award winner,the Travelmate 3000 boasts a widescreen 12.1 inch panoramic display, and the notebook’s compact chassis occupies less desktop space than a sheet of A4 paper - weighing just 1.4kg.

The Sony T2, a sleek silver ultralight laptop, is equipped with a 60GB hard drive, 1.2GHz processor and weighs just under 1.4kg.

Toshiba’s Libretto U100 tips the scales at 2.16 pounds, has a 1.20GHz Intel Pentium M processor, and sports a hard drive protection system.

While desktop PC sales aren’t yet sinking like torpedoed cargo ships, the market momentum is certainly with their mobile computer rivals. Only time will tell whether wireless laptops consign desktops to the fate of the dinosaurs.

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